Tanners 0 - 3 Tooting

An impressive Tooting side ripped apart an injury ravaged side and take all three points to consolidate their place in the top 3. What annoyed many about the first half was the side that was put out. We didn't have a central midfield player... stick Beero, an ex right sided midfielder, there... ok what about right back... stick a midfielder, new boy Sears, there... now right midfield... put Scott Bennetts, who has been outstanding on the left, there... in total three players out of position.

After 7 minutes the first goal, a wicked deflection saw the ball loop over Tommy for the first own goal of the night. The second goal was pure break away football by Tooting and it was headed home at close range from a pin point cross.

Two goals and half time later the collage of players were addressed with O'Conner back and Wes on the right and we back looking like an attacking side.

Despite more pressure Leatherhead conceded another own goal as the ball flew through Tommy's hand and in off the thigh of Henders. The run that had started after defeat by Tooting had ended at their hands too.

Tooting & Mitcham Are Coming

The Grove is used to big midweek games and tomorrow is no exception. Tooting & Mitcham are a side to be reckoned with again after a couple of seasons of not living up to their new stadium.

Leatherhead have already faced Tooting in a poor away showing that saw them lose 2-1, which could have been worse if the ref had seen the ball hit the back of the stantion! Hopefully revenge will be ours...

Kick off at 7.45pm... see you there!

Tanners 1 - 1 Ashford

The unbeaten run goes on but only a draw against the worst opposition Leatherhead have faced this season and when I say that I include Dorking and Chertsey.

Leatherhead had their chances to bury this side. Scott Bennetts was denied by an excellent piece of defensive tackling in the first and Waugh hit his 1 on 1 chance straight at the 'keeper.

Ashford got their goal via the post and Tommy Dunn's shin despite missing an excellent chance themselves. Sargent was at hand to level the score and MCS had our hearts in our mouths as he found the side netting in the dying seconds.

Still... Tooting & Mitcham Tuesday!

Ashford Town Are Coming

Leatherhead face Ashford Town and look to build on their unbeaten run that is the talk of the messageboard. Moler is saying 11 in a row... Woody is shouting Easy... its going to be a long day.

Kick off at 3pm... see you there!

Newport (IOW) 2 - 2 Tanners

Leatherhead suffer a last minute blow as Newport's last gasp second goal cancels out efforts from MCS and Waugh.

The big news from the game is that Richard O'Conner toe is not broken as first diagnosed by Ross and his portable X-Ray machine. It turns out it is dislocated and where a break would take 4-5 weeks Richard can look forward to playing in around 2.

Travelling Tanners

Tonight the Travelling Tanners make a midweek trip into Europe as they face Newport Isle of Wight in yet another long distance midweek trip. Leatherhead will hope to build on their unbeaten run providing they can find their sealegs and see through the fog...

Good luck to all those who are brave enough to make the journey, I am sure the players will appreciate it!

Directions

Roads from all ferry ports lead to Coppins Bridge roundabout at eastern extremity of town. Take Sandown/Ventnor exit, proceed to small roundabout, St. George's way is first exit (straight on). The ground is immediately visible on the left hand side.

The ground is a five minute walk from Newport bus station. Walk along Church Litten (past old ground), turn left then right at roundabout.

Pub Guide
No other pub to go to other than the Bargeman's Rest by the river. Its a drive away but well worth it if you want a good meal.

Poll Result

It appears the lure of cheap fags and booze was too much and the friendly in Auchel gets the big thumbs up. All I need to do is convince Lol that it will be money well spent, buy Gerald a French phrase book and pre-warn the Dona-Maria de Auchel (the local cafe) we are coming and it is good as booked!

This weeks poll is one of my favourites. Which one of the starting 11 on Saturday will be the first to resort to wearing poofy gloves...?

New Message Board Goes Live!

The new look message board is online and ready for you to lavish praise on the victorious Tanners. I have paid for a three month trial so if you like it I will make it a permanent feature.

You can either post as a guest or with a member profile... the latter you can embellish with your own image!

Give it a try!

Tanners 2 - 0 Blues
Thrillers In The Mist

Leatherhead's red hot form continues over a well placed Met Police side. The Tanners controlled the game for all but 10 minutes where Met Police showed some spirit after they conceded the second.

Up to that point it was all Tanners. Wes took the lead after a well worked free kick struck the post and fell to him in the box. This was well deserved after Julian Thompson struck the post himself but was held back by the keeper to prevent him from scoring from the rebound. At this point the only thing that looked to be able to deny us the three points was a thick layer of mist that lay across the left hand side of the pitch.

The second half started where the first ended and Tanners got their second after 10 minutes when the impressive MCS broke down the right and gave Julian the perfect chance to fire home in front of an unguarded net.

Only then did the police wake up... but the three points were heading our way by then!

GAME ON!

"No need for a pitch inspection, its fine" were the words from Gerald... game on so see you there!

Met Police Are Coming

Tomorrow we host Met Police for the second time this season. The Blues have maintained their lofty position that they achieved last season and will be coming to the Grove to avenge the 4-1 beating we dished out a few weeks ago. I wont be looking for such a thrashing and just hope we nick it by the odd goal...

Kick-off at 3pm so see you there!

Leatherhead FC Diaries Are In!

The club shop is now fully stocked with 2006 diaries at just £3 each. Impress your friends at work or make a perfect stocking filler for those executive types you know!

Tanners 5 - 4 Molesey

I don't know where to start. A frantic game that had everything except a penalty... despite both teams having a good shout for one in the first half.

Scott Bennett opened the scoring with a sublime lob when attacking down the left. Ex Tanner Ruggles inevitably scored to make it 1-1. Richard O'Conner made it 2-1 shortly after with a powerful drive from outside the box.

MCS continues to impress and his trickery made room for a cross that was headed home by Julian Thompson to continue his hot streak. Steve Sargent then got into the action with a jinking run through the middle and his long range shot that was unstoppable, even for the agile Creamer!

4-1 and it seemed the game was over, only for poor defending from a free kick and it was 4-2. Sloppy defending was the again on show as Molesey made it 4-3 shortly after the break. I was still in the bar so cannot comment on how they fluked that one.

Scott Bennett again showed great strength and powerfully slotted the ball past the diving keeper from a tight angle on the right. 5-3 now and some thought the game was peterring out... Tommy Moorhouse decided to liven things up by getting tangled up with a Molesey player and got himself sent off. The referee also saw something from the Molesey lad and sent him off too with a second yellow. Then a mix up at the back and it was headed from close range into an open goal for 5-4.

We hung on though and celebrated the win... three points and 9 goals was not a bad send off for my brother-in-law!

Molesey Are Coming

Tomorrow sees the first of three teams in a week turn up to the Grove when old rivals Molesey roll into town. Molesey have been on the wrong end of some freak results, notably losing 7-2 at home to Lymington & New Milton while Leatherhead continue to score freely by beating Cray 5-3.

If Leatherhead win their games in hand that would see them joint second so 3 points will be top of the agenda tomorrow. Kick off at 3pm so see you there!

Its Slough At Home

The draw for the Westview Cup has been made and we have drawn old league rivals Slough Town at home. Slough are making heavy weather of the Ryman Premier and could present the Tanners with another exciting midweek encounter.

This game has been confirmed as being played on Monday, 19 December at 7.45. Rumours that the switch to a Monday night is down to Sky being interested were quickly played down by Gerald.

Here is the draw in full;

Leatherhead v Slough
Braintree v Wealdstone
Heybridge Swifts v Chelmsford City
AFC Wimbledon v Hendon
Fisher v Hampton & Richmond
Billericay v Tooting & Mitcham
Dover v Bromley
Harrow Borough v Worthing

Club Shop Goes Online

The club shop now has its own page on the Official Site and overseas fans can now buy via the Contact Us page (well via me actually).

So far the e-commerce side of the site has racked up a shirt and scarf sale as well as an offer to have all of this seasons programs posted to another long distance fan (so a guaranteed readership of 1 then!). Hardly Amazon but hopefully things will speed in the near future...

Tanners 5 - 3 Cray (AET)

Tanners edge it in a close affair. Marc Charles-Smith found his scoring boots again and was joined by Julian Thompson but this was not enough to prevent extra time as Cray put in a fighting display that belies their recent form.

The Tanners fought on and controlled the extra time with Julian Thompson popping up for his second and it looked to be the match winner until Cray responded.

So as penalties loomed MCS and Richard O'Connor snatched the crucial goals to take the game beyond plucky Cray's reach!

Cray Wanderers Are Coming

Tonight sees Cray Wanderers visit the Grove in the Westview Cup. A cup that last year saw us take on and defeat some pretty hefty opponents only to lose away at Chelmsford with a hugely under strength side. Speaking over under strength sides... Tootman will have us believe that is the cause of their recent run of one win in 9 games.

Kick off at 7.45!

Rams 0 - 0 Tanners

OK OK it was 1-1 but I missed both goals due to rubbish traffic. Leatherhead appeared to have conceeded a goal from a rare Dunn error where the ball simply slipped through his hands. Sargent replied with a classic freekick on the edge of the box.

A talking point arose just before half time when a Croydon Athletic player was shown a red card after the assistant flagged for an off the ball incident. Foul and abusive language was the alleged reason.

Leatherhead oressed for the winner for much of the second half, but like so many other times the team with 10 men had more resolve and fought bitterly to the end.

Travelling Tanners

Tomorrow we travel into the "bad lands" of Croydon. Lets face it, nothing good comes of travelling here. Fans cars have broken down on the trip their... Committee Members have veered into a tram lane and got fined on the drive back... and the wife dragged me into Ikea costing be £200 the last time I was there!

But there we go to a side making their push for the playoffs and looking for revenge over the 2-1 win we inflicted just a few weeks ago...

Directions

Mayfields is just off the A23, London to Brighton Road in Thornton Heath, Croydon. Turn into Silverleigh road, then branch left into Trafford Road (club sign now up). Mayfield Road is a continuation of Trafford. Ground is at the bottom via a lane on left.

Poll Result

Oh dear... I would have put money on Danny "Corner flag" Lavender winning this poll but it appears Tommy "Orbit" Moorhouse has taken the worst penalty in recent years.

Although this may sound like one of Tim's April Fools jokes, this weeks poll looks at a possible friendly. While on holiday I went to see a side called Auchel (between Calais and Lens) and got chatting to the President before the game. I joked with him that we could come over and play and while he laughed nervously I thought it might not be a bad idea...

Lymington & New Milton 0 - 1 Tanners

A late start due to traffic and a terrible game due to weather but the Tanners grind out a win on the road!

A makeshift defense with Moorhouse partnering Doherty in the centre with Dante out on the left fought hard in the first half with the wind in their faces.

The conditions worsened but with the wind and rain in their favour they pressed on. O'Conner made way for Phil Eagle and Doherty for Gray before the breakthrough came. A freekick was swept in from Steve Sargent which was simply impossible to save on 83 minutes. With the gale force wind beating back the home sides efforts the game petered out.

Congratulations to the players to the Travelling Tanners who saw out this game in such trying conditions and distance to get there!